By Fernando Abarca
” with goals by longstaff, owusu, and Toronto star Bernardeschi. The Reds sealed a crucial 5-1 victory over Montreal staying in the top 5 of the Eastern standings.”
When it comes to rivalries and hatred, Montreal and Toronto know what it is like to dislike each other. In the first meeting of the Canadian derby, Toronto outplayed an injury plagued Montreal squad. Bernardeschi orchestrated a hat trick to boost the crowd at BMO while Insigne returned to the roster since March 23 and contributed with assists.
Montreal’s nightmare began in the first half of the game when in the 6th minute of the game Matty Longstaff, and 6th after, Federico Bernardeschi struck in the 12 and to close out the first half, Prince Owusu put the 3-0 in the scoreboard.
Montreal, as mentioned came to BMO full of injuries as Matias Coccaro, Raheem Edward’s, Ousman Jabang, Lassi Lappalainen, Malala Opoku, Nathan Saliba, Mason Toye, and the former Atlanta, Inter Miami and Venezuela international, Josef Martinez were ruled out for the Canadian derby.
In the list of injured players for Toronto we had Jonathan Osorio, Kevin Long, Shane O’Neill. TFC’s Richie Laryea managed to be both injured and suspended.
Entering in the second half, Bernardeschi put in the two goals to give the three points to the Reds. On the other hand, Montreal’s Sunnis Ibrahim opened Montreal's sheet. Now, Montreal has conceded 31 goals in 13 games and 15 of those goals during the last four games.
Unlike Toronto, Montreal has not had a good month as they came off from a defeat in Columbus 3-1, and losing four games in a row and winning one (1-7-3) Montreal sits in the 13th spot in the conference table out of the playoff zone.
Montreal's Joel Waterman spoke to the media after the game.
”I don't know why the humility left. I don't know why the desire left and the compete level left. … For some reason it's gone away and we need to get back to it," said the Canadian center back.
This meeting marked the 33rd time these two Canadian sides had met in regular season. The record stands at (14-5-14) Toronto wins at home for the first time in five years when TFC won 2-1 over then Montreal Impact.
Federico Bernardeschi talked to the media
“For us, it was very important tonight, for the city, for the fans, and for the team.” Bernardeschi said.
NEXT FOR TORONTO AND MONTREAL
Toronto hosts current second place FC Cincinnati next Saturday while Montreal hosts Nashville SC during the next matchday. Also, Mid-week Canadian Championship Cup as Toronto plays leg 2 on Tuesday against CS Saint-Laurent. Montreal welcomes current champions Forge FC.
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